


Playing Pretend

by VanillaHorizon



Series: Fictober 2019 [16]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, Fictober 2019, Light Angst, Post-Break Up, Sweet Zevran Arainai, Zevran Arainai is a Good Friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-17 15:56:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21057047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VanillaHorizon/pseuds/VanillaHorizon
Summary: Alistair is king and the warden steps aside for the good of Ferelden. She pretends it doesn't hurt but Zevran notices her heartbreak anyway.Day sixteen of the Fictober challenge.





	Playing Pretend

**Author's Note:**

> Cross my fingers that my keyboard gets here before next weekend.  
Prompt: Pretend

Pretending that it didn't hurt didn't make it true.

Every step after he became king was a painful one, but she wore a smile anyway.

No one else seemed to notice except Zevran who had almost immediately offered to slip something into his drink for causing her to be upset.

She waved off his offer as they left the main hall together.

"No, he deserves someone who can give the kingdom what it needs and that isn't me," she told the Antivan.

Strangely enough, the assassin quickly pulled her into a tight hug.

"I'm not the best when it comes to these emotions and such but according to Leliana, if she's right, hugs help," he whispered into her hair.

"Thank you, Zevran."

He chuckled softly as he released his hold on her.

"Remember, the offer still stands if you want me to pour a little something extra into his goblet when no one is looking."

She couldn't help but smile at him just as a tear started to escape her eye.

Without prompting, he automatically reached his hand up to her face to wipe the stray tear away.

"Don't cry or I may just have to assassinate him whether you want me to or not."

His palm was still resting on her cheek as he spoke and his thumb was lightly tracing her cheekbone.

She whispered his name and he couldn't help the chills that his name falling from her lips caused him.

He hadn't felt admiration like this since Rinna, but the woman in front of him had already made her choice and it wasn't him.

He withdrew his hand from her cheek quickly, almost as if her skin had burned him.

He pretended he wasn't thinking about her as more than a friend.

"So, what are your plans now, my warden?" He asked as shifted on his feet.

She told him of her plans and he pretended it didn't hurt to know that he would likely never see her again.

"What about you?"

He shrugged, "I suppose that only time will tell."

"Maybe you could stick around for a little while?" 

The tone her voice held was a hopeful one, he could tell.

He pretended it didn't affect him as much as it did, but Maker be damned if he didn't answer eagerly either way.

"I think I would like that."

At that point in time he would've never guessed that the pretending they were doing wouldn't last long.

As time moved on, her hurt faded from losing Alistair to a duty and she no longer had to pretend it wasn't there.

Zevran no longer had to pretend he wasn't thinking of her as anything more than a friend, because in time they became more than that once again.

Eventually, their time playing pretend came to an end and they couldn't have been happier when it finally did.


End file.
